


Five Times Clint and Natasha Just Got Each Other and One Time They Didn't (Until They Did)

by eternaleponine



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-07
Updated: 2012-10-07
Packaged: 2017-11-15 19:04:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/530652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eternaleponine/pseuds/eternaleponine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Exactly what it says in the title.  Six drabbles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Times Clint and Natasha Just Got Each Other and One Time They Didn't (Until They Did)

**1**

"Head up. Back straight. One foot in front of the other," Clint whispers. "Just a little farther."

He leads her away from medical, not touching her but at her side just in case. She keeps her jaw clenched to keep from wincing with every breath and step she takes.

When no one can see, he puts a hand on her back, willing her onward. She punches in the code to her door and it slides open. A few more steps get them to the bathroom, where she sits down heavily.

"Thank you," she murmurs. "I hate—"

"Shh. I know."

**2**

"What exactly is so damned funny?" Director Fury glares at them, turning his head slightly to look from one of them to the other.

"Nothing. Sir." Clint bites back a grin.

"Nothing," Natasha agrees, taking deep breaths to keep control.

"As I was saying, I received a report that the two of you—"

They glance at each other at the same time, and it's all over. Natasha is trying so hard not to laugh that she snorts, and Clint cracks up.

"Have you two lost your damn minds?"

They reply, in unison, "Probably." The giggles start all over again.

**3**

She doesn't say a word. His eyes look bruised – lack of sleep or maybe a fight – and he's barely holding it together. It's why he's here. She shifts over on the bed, makes room for him even though there's plenty of space.

It's less a kiss than a collision of mouths, and it tastes of blood (hers) and ash (his) and whatever happened, he needs to know that he's alive and she gives him that, gives him everything of her that she can which is far more than anyone else ever could or will.

In her arms he finally sleeps.

**4**

"No." Clint shakes his head. "Absolutely not."

"That's not going to happen," Natasha says.

"Why not?" Fury asks them, in separate briefing sessions. "You've worked undercover together before."

"Not saying I won't do the mission," Clint says.

"But you have to come up with a different cover. We're not playing a couple." Natasha crosses her arms. There is no room for argument.

"That doesn't answer my question," Fury points out.

Clint sighs. Natasha glares. "There are parts of us that you don't get to have."

"That's what Agent Romanoff said," Fury tells Barton, and vice versa. Neither one is surprised.

**5**

Natasha stares out the window, her chin propped on her hand. She hears Clint come in but doesn't look his way, mesmerized by the raindrops carving paths down the glass.

"Where are you, 'Tasha?" he asks. 

She can't answer.

"Come with me," he says, taking her hand. She follows, down the stairs and out the door, into the pouring rain. It soaks through her clothing and chills her skin, but his arms around her keep her warm and slowly she comes back to herself.

"Dance with me," he whispers, lips against her ear.

She smiles. "I thought you'd never ask."

**1**

Clint doesn't remember when they fought, when he almost completed that long ago mission that he'd made a different call on.

Natasha can't forget. She wishes that she could, because the feeling that she might have truly lost her partner, best friend and everything else isn't one that she wants to hold on to.

They both have nightmares of that time. They wake in cold sweats, hearts pounding, shaking, breathless. They turn to each other in unspoken terror for comfort, but neither can ask. The words are not in their vocabulary.

Their saving grace is that they don't need to.


End file.
